Best Fundraiser:The Sky is Red, the untold story of the push for gender, race, and class equity in the growing world of ultimate frisbee from 1968 to the present; at year's end, 1,066 backers pledged $76,919.

Friday, December 29, 2017

In summary: the Vancouver Riptide will cease operations on December 31, 2017 and will not play in the 2018 AUDL season. The franchise is planning to transfer to "Rip City" (Portland, Oregon) with plans to restart play in the 2019 AUDL season.

In four American Ultimate Disc League seasons, Vancouver Riptide posted 19 wins and 37 losses. In Vancouver's most recent season (2017), the Riptide went 1-13 in the West Division; their only win was a 1-goal victory in OT win at home versus San Diego Growlers.

L2 Sports Management also owns two other AUDL franchises - the Toronto Rush and Ottawa Outlaws.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Today (December 21) marks the one year anniversary of Major League Ultimate suspending operations after just four seasons.

History: MLU started on September 28, 2012 with a meeting between Jeff Sander, Nic Darling, Skip Sewell, Marc Stackowski, and Lindi Sadloff. AUDL-Owner/Coach-turned-MLU-Commissioner Jeff Snader began building a 12-team sports league that would rival American Ultimate Disc League. MLU sought to model itself after Major League Soccer's shared revenue model.

"The league contracts the players, the league covers travel costs, the league covers uniforms and equipment, everything."

Logo: What a creatively designed logo by Skip Sewell!

The combination text-based logo with the full company name of the startup league is effective for easy recognition. Major League Ultimate is strong sounding; and inclusionary of teams who are outside of the American headquarters.

Storytelling: MLU did an excellent job of hyping each and every game; providing an instant reaction to each and every game; recapping each and every game. Regardless of record, an MLU team was going to be covered by the MLU. UltiPhotos as the official photographer of Major League Ultimate aided MLU's storytelling with action photos.

MLU's podcasting was another way for MLU to communicate - for better or for worse - about the league. "Cleats" (Nic Darling) & "Cufflinks" (Jeff Snader) debuted on February 2014, changed up in November 2015 after Snader's departure (September 2015), and continued with Dusty Rhodes for the 2016 season.

Collected MLU stats were a major source of these yearly snapshots - in 2014 and in 2015.

Another element MLU borrowed from professional sports world was the weekly injury update. Sure, it become a sponsorship opportunity, but the injury update also provided value to the weekend's scheduled games to understand which players would not be playing.

Staffing: There was a clear understanding that the success of the league would require local teams to operate successfully. As such, MLU advertised 20+ jobs (paid, unpaid, internships) to support team operations and logistics.

Another distinguishing feature of the players was MLU prohibited players to wear hats.

MLU was all about making things look uniform, hence the potential of a backwards baseball hat ruining that MLU player image was removed.

Innovations: Player Advisory Committee (PAC), a group of MLU player volunteers that worked with the league to provide input on rules, schedules, contracts and other matters concerned with the MLU's long-term goals.

MLU video game: This was no EA Sports FIFA, though it was a pivot in the right direction as a portal for getting the MLU product, teams and players in front of more faces (and could have been another platform for advertising). 'Championship Ultimate' was one-of-a-kind video game that was a tad clunky in mimicking the real-world action of a frisbee game. Hey, remember there was an option to select a women's squad as your team?

MLU-designed lined field
The decreasing lines beginning at half-field are meant to signify the approach to the end zones.

MLU Executive Vice President Nic Darling: "The overall idea was to create a field with the markings we need within a minimal, open design to highlight the unique flow of ultimate. We wanted the functionality of the yardage markings without the rigidity of football's gridiron."

Half-field pulls
The MLU was willing to bend the rules in the name of competition. MLU played with this new rule impacting the pull in the 2015 season. Instead of pulling 80 yards away from an opponent, the pull was thrown 40 yards away at midfield when the pulling team called a timeout before the point started. The pull from midfield (or half-field pulls) were an exciting addition to the pro game. Teams with the lead used it to keep their pressure; teams that were down utilized the tactic to help with a comeback attempt.

New Ultimate Disc
MLU's business decision to work with Pulsar seemed justified. In college basketball and soccer, using a different brand for the essential equipment piece is commonplace. Alas, the Innova Pulsar may be symbolic of the MLU - it was slightly different, yet people did not buy into it.

In the End:
The business model is at the core of any successful startup, because no matter how cool an idea is or how unique something may seem, a startup must have a viable way of making money that is worthy enough for future investment and to sustain itself. Like any startup, operations are at the whim of its investors. The MLU completed 4 seasons (2013-2016) and seemingly were on its way to a 5th (2017) until the league's investor's made the decision to suspend operations on December 21, 2016.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

In March 2017, the World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU) announced the official game discs for its international beach ultimate competition in France would require a fluorescent yellow UltraStar. Here's the backstory of how the bright yellow disc was adopted for beach ultimate play.

BULA
Sludge made an inquiry to BULA boss Patrick van der Valk and he referred me to Mike Palmer (previously of ulti.tv).

Patrick warned:

"I hope you are not expecting a research paper :)"

Patrick explained that Mike Palmer, from Australia, did a very basic heat absorption test by putting a white, yellow and pink disc in the Aussie sun for 10 mins. Pink was most floppy then white and surprisingly yellow was most firm! Good enough for us because it is still a Discraft. Filming test (done by Mike as well) showed that the yellow looked much better on camera. IMHO the WCBU proved that last point. I didn’t hear any complaints yet from players so that is a positive data point.

Discraft
I was curious about the 10-minute Aussie sun/heat test of Discraft ultimate discs, so I contacted the disc manufacturer.

When I asked Discraft directly, they replied: "No hard data for you, but just as the white of the arctic reflects light & heat vs bare dark tundra, so goes a white disc vs a dark."

No hard data for you, but just as the white of the arctic reflects light & heat vs bare dark tundra, so goes a white disc vs a dark

According to the Ulti Show (Ep 1), the Discraft representative spoke to why a different colored disc was being used at WCBU. "Beach Committee contacted Discraft in fall 2016 asking their expert opinion about a different colored disc for filming that might show up better. Yellow, orange, and pink discs were all tested as well as white. And yellow ended up being the most...(pause)...easiest to find in the sand. Yellow Discraft UltraStars were then experimented with at the Australia Beach Championships."

Caz Malone then asked about an incident when the yellow disc in the first WCBU 2017 match "got bent out of shape."

Pad Timmons (Discraft) explained: Someone fell on the disc. But the heat...it's really, really warm here. Heat absorbs with color. The more color you add, the higher the temperature the disc actually is.

Interview with Mike Palmer
I was now more interested in the absorption test, so I contacted the person responsible for conducting the heat tests in Australia.

SLUDGE: What kind of ground were the discs on when your test was performed?
Mike: On grass.

SLUDGE: What was the temperature during the 10-minute test?
Mike: Temp 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in full sun.

SLUDGE: What was done first: watching the colored discs on video or the heat absorption test?
Mike: The absorption test was conducted at Aussie Mixed Nats in October 2016 in Sydney before the film test.SLUDGE: Were you surprised at the final "floppy-ness" results?
Mike: I handled the disc and I was surprised the yellow was less floppy that the white. I had someone else feel them as well to confirm.

SLUDGE: What else should I know about the disc absorption test?
Mike: It was not very scientific but it is a fair test!

My thoughts
I support the effort to discover a different ultimate disc to better the ultimate game on sand - for players and spectators.

1. Future experiments of sun effects on discs should be conducted in the environment of the disc use - on the beach/in the sand.
2. For spectating, the yellow disc blends into light tan colored sand, rather than standout for visibility.

3. Beach tournament directors should consider:
1) Storing game discs in a shaded or in a cooler and not on/in the sand to reduce sun effects on the plastic disc.
2) Introducing a new game disc at the start of the 2nd half.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Per the Cannons: The Cannons will be moving to Orlando for the 2018 season! We want to take a moment to thank all of our fans and the City of Jacksonville for three awesome years in North Florida. You’ve been so supportive, and we are deeply grateful to call each and every one of you part of our team. The Cannons have always been Florida’s team so we hope you’ll continue to cheer us on as we transition to our new home in Orlando. BOOM!

Nearly 150 miles separates Orlando and Jacksonville. There's no word yet on any logo update or whether the Cannons will become the "Florida" Cannons to avoid any future changes. In the meantime, the Cannons could consider this alternative logo...

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Fred Morrison got the inspiration for the iconic toy that would become the Frisbee at a Thanksgiving family picnic, tossing the lid of a large popcorn tin which belonged to the host (Joe Warr). In Morrison's own words:

"It all began during a [19]'37 Thanksgiving Day family gathering..."

"...a large popcorn lid would FLY when it was flipped spinning away backhand. Adults and kids alike were finding joy flippin' and attempting to outwit the unpredictable flight of the can cover."

After that Thanksgiving Day (November 25) happening, Lu and I really got into flippin' with the "borrowed" popcorn can lid. After the lid got bent out of shape, we discovered pie pans...[then] cake pans. (Cake pans have a right-angled flange, are more stable, and fly better'n pie pans.)"

The commercialization of airborne cake pans one weekend on a Santa Monica, California beach.

Friday, November 10, 2017

After 10+ years and nearly 4000 posts later, the SLUDGE blog is significantly scaling back its operations as a weekdaily blog.

The SLUDGE blog began as a space for team musings then expanded to Put Something In* for the goings-on of the sport of ultimate. The independent blog has been run solely since its launch in 2006. Today, it cannot continue as a one-person operation.

The SLUDGE blog has been a healthy obsession and a creative outlet for me. Through injury and health, via spotty WiFi and T1 internet, on mobile device and Mac laptop, during vacation/holiday and work days, blog visitors could find a daily post Monday through Friday (plus some weekends).

My thirst for understanding the sport of ultimate is still there. My time, however, is not as plentiful in order to sufficiently research ideas, collect data, manage and analyze collected data, find and craft images, and/or write some shtick on the subject. [BREAKING: Ultimate blogger admits blogging takes time.]

Thank you to those who have ever visited the SLUDGE blog for its coverage on ultimate, Frisbees and flying discs. I appreciate the opportunity to share what I discovered and uncovered. Hopefully you learned something along the way. I know I did.

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Lili Gu (Writer, Director), Brittany Kaplan (Director, Editor), and Julia Johnson (Producer) are collaborating on a feature documentary that will tell the stories of underrepresented and marginalized individuals pushing for gender, race, and class equity in the growing world of ultimate frisbee, from 1968 to the present.

A woman played in the first intercollegiate game in 1972? True.Peggy Delahanty, a Rutgers freshman, played in this historic game as noted in The New York Times (below). Author Adam Zagoria highlighted the significant milestone in Ultimate News in 2005.

On this date in 1972, the first intercollegiate ultimate Frisbee game was played between Rutgers University and Princeton University.

The New York Times [November 7, 1972] coverage of the first intercollegiate game of Ultimate Frisbee

The November 6th game was organized by Irv Kalb – a Columbia High School graduate and a freshman student at Rutgers – on the same date Princeton and Rutgers played the first college football game in 1869. This game was originally scheduled for early October, but later changed to coincide with the historical football date. This college frisbee game was played on a parking lot, which was the approximate location where the first football game was played exactly 103 years earlier.

Rutgers won this ultimate game over Princeton by 2 points—the same score difference of the first football game.

The New York Times covered the college sporting event (above) and estimated the crowd at 1000 - way more than the local paper's estimated attendance.

Fury was founded in 1997 and after their inaugural season (1998) of not qualifying for Nationals, Fury has qualified for Club Nationals 19 consecutive seasons. Their 7-peat (2006 through 2012) is mighty impressive as is their total number of club titles, which is one more than Boston Lady Godiva (9 titles from 1988 through 2002). In addition to the winning the club championship ten (10) times - the most titles in the USA Ultimate Women's Division, Fury has consistently been in the Top-3 of the Women's Division 18 of 19 appearances at Nationals.